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	Trunk Latch - 1954 Pontiac I had two specifications for the trunk latch: It had to have an electric solenoid so that I could pop the trunk with a remote It had to have a mechanical backup release. I searched the local wreckers to see what was available. In the GM section, there were basically only two styles. An electric solenoid version typically used on Cadillacs and large BOP (Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs) and a mechanical version that had the release lever sitting on the floor between the driver's seat and the door. On my 54 Pontiac, the release mechanism is located in the trunk lid and on the late model solenoid release mechanism they were located on the trunk floor. So it looks like I started with a basic design flaw. Latch mechanism off of 90 Cavalier or some small GM car. I came across a 90s Cavalier/Gran Am which had a trunk mount latch and an interior release lever. It was ideal as it had two release cables. One was a short cable that went to the trunk lid key and the other went to the driver's trunk release lever. I could modify the trunk lid key cable to work from a solenoid! Cadillac trunk latch solenoid The Cadillac trunk latch mechanism (not shown) has a solenoid (shown) on top. Unfortunately, it was too big and bulky to fit in the trunk lid and too large to fit on the trunk floor without cutting major holes in the trunk floor. But the solenoid itself was pretty nice and strong! I could use it. This is the inside view of the solenoid's workings I drilled a hole in the solenoid's case and filed it into a C opening to route the key release cable through. Then came the problem of connecting the cable to the solenoid lever. The solenoid pulls in, moves the lever out which pulls the cable. I drilled a small hole in the lever and originally used a small solid wire like a paperclip with a loop on the end to join the cable to the lever. I couldn't get it tight enough. After several attempts of joining the cable end to the solid wire, I tried soldering the two together - bad move as the end of the cable is crimped lead and it melted! I eventually connected the two together with JB Weld and it worked quite well except the solid wire was too stiff and broke! So I used safety wire - its a very strong flexible solid wire that is used to safety wire nuts and bolts to prevent them from loosening. A dab of JB Weld and it worked like a charm. I also used JB Weld to hold the cable solid to the case. The case of the solenoid is ground and when 12 volts is applied to the solenoid's electrical wire, the latch releases. Here's the latch and solenoid installed - view from inside the trunk I originally tried to mount the latch mechanism in the trunk lid like the 54 originally had but it just wasn't going to work without major cutting. Mounting the latch mechanism on the trunk floor seemed like the easiest method. I just had to file the latch mechanism's mounting holes to mate with the 54's. The solenoid is mounted to a 2" wide flat bar stock which is bolted to the trunk floor. It's painted black so its hard to see in the picture. You can see the bolt in the trunk floor just in front of the solenoid. Had to do this because there is a valley between the trunk floor and the trunk lid. It ain't a flat floor! The long trunk release cable comes out on the passenger side but is flexible enough that I make a 180 degree turn and I've routed it back under the latch mechanism and to the driver's side. If you are wondering about the red lever, it's a security switch that disables the trunk release lever. You have the choice of either both key and trunk release lever working or just the key. I found out the hard way which position is which when I closed the trunk to test the trunk release lever and had to crawl into the trunk through the back seat opening and flick the red lever to the other position! Trunklid latch bar The trunklid latch bar didn't turn out as pretty as I would of liked. I used some flat bar stock to form a plate that would hold a bent bolt and a cutdown angle iron bar to bolt it to the trunk lid. The bottom of the trunklid had to be cut open to allow the latch mechanism to pass through. It works, I painted it aluminum colored in the hope that it would look better. Nobody really looks there anyways. Original release lever The release lever is made to sit between the driver's seat and the rocker panel in a sucken floor. My 54 Pontiac has a flat floor. I decided that I would place it next to the back seat directly behind the driver's door. I made a mounting plate for the bottom of the soon to be trimmed release lever Trimmed release lever, screwed to mounting plate - ready to be installed Release lever temporarily installed behind driver's door next to back seat The release lever is made of plastic and can be trimmed using a sharp box cutter or easily with tin snips. I made a mounting plate with 3/8" raised sides (make a cardboard template first - saves a lot of fiddling around). The release lever screwed to the raised sides with some metal screws. The plate will be screwed to the floor.